Afternoon Read: O'Malley And Springsteen

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Governor Martin O’Malley may be the boss of Maryland, but it seems he has a boss of his own that he looks up to.

And it’s not just any boss, but Bruce Springsteen—“The Boss.”

The Washington Postreported that O’Malley emailed a Rolling Stone magazine article featuring an interview with Bruce Springsteen through an aide Monday morning with a memo saying he wanted to share it with cabinet and agency heads.

Gov. O’Malley is a musician himself, and his Celtic rock band, O’Malley’s March, recently played in front of President Barack Obama for St. Patrick’s Day.

In the interview conducted by “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, Springsteen reflects on both his music and American politics.

The Post obtained a copy of the email O’Malley sent out, which included an attachment of the article with passages that the governor highlighted.

The highlighted passages, according to The Post, include:

“Lately, it seems as if the polarization of the country has gotten so extreme that people want to force you into either being a phony ‘patriot’ or an ‘apologist.’ Nuanced political dialogue or creative expression seems like it’s been hamstrung by the decay of political speech and it’s infantilized our national discourse.”

Big D..C political donor and Medicaid contractor Jeff Thompson was sued over a Capitol Hill property he owns that currently houses a hair salon, according to Washington City Paper.

Federal authorities raided Thompson’s home and office earlier this month for an investigation into reported irregularities in D.C. campaign finances.

Thompson, according to Washington City Paper, was sued right before this raid.

City records obtained by the City Paper show that the suit has to do with a real estate transaction gone foul.

*A Maryland-based attorney and former Bush administration official filed an ethics complaint against Democrat state Sen. Rob Garagiola for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income as a lobbyist on state disclosure forms, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Garagiola is a contender in the Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District. Opponent John Delaney’s campaign has been bringing public attention to these financial misdoings.

According to The Sun, Randa Fahmy Hudome—the lawyer who lodged the complaint—said she is not affiliated with Delaney’s campaign but decided to file the ethics complaint after she heard a radio ad criticizing Garagiola for not properly reporting his income.

The complaint will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics in Annapolis, which has yet to be scheduled.

It is not clear whether Garagiola was intentionally hiding his work as a lobbyist, The Sun reports.

The winner of the primary will face 10-term Republican Roscoe Bartlett in the main election.

* In honor of Women’s History Month, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will host a town hall at Maryland Women’s Heritage Center in Baltimore to highlight women’s accomplishments throughout American history.

Katie O’Malley, the first lady of Maryland, and Stephanie Rawlings Blake, the mayor of Baltimore, will also participate in the discussion.

The town hall is at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

* Gas prices and oil issues is the hot topic of the moment in the Senate race between former Virginia governors Tim Kaine and George Allen.

The Kaine campaign released a statement today urging the U.S. Senate to pass the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act that would repeal several tax breaks for the Big 5 oil companies.

"I strongly urge the Senate to approve legislation repealing subsidies to the Big 5 oil companies. Giving tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to companies that are reaping record profits is simply a waste of taxpayer money at a time when we should be looking for ways to reduce our spending, and a backward approach to our energy future.

"Unfortunately, by supporting these unnecessary subsidies, my opponent George Allen and other Republicans appear to be answering to the best interests of their campaign war chests instead of the best interests of the American people. By protecting these giveaways, Allen and his allies are double-charging Virginia consumers and businesses, asking them to pay at the pump and in their tax bill to Big Oil companies who don't need the additional help to turn a profit.

But I do wonder if Mr. Kaine and the rest of his party are taking their energy cues from Jimmy Carter. Remember the windfall profits taxes of the bad old days? Passed under Carter’s watch in 1980, the windfall profits tax had the effect of depressing domestic oil production and increasing our reliance on imported oil.

That should have been expected: raise taxes on something, and you will get less of it. But that’s exactly what Mr. Kaine proposes: single-out five oil companies for tax discrimination and they will produce less oil. Prices will rise as supply falls, pump prices will rise in concert and the only thing left will be even angrier (and poorer) motorists.

* Legislation that would increase pension contributions for new judges was amended in the House of Delegates over the weekend to strike down a provision in Maryland law that awards judges automatic pay hikes if the legislature fails to reject them, according to Maryland Reporter.

The House passed a Senate bill on March 12 that increased judges salaries up to $14,500 over three years.

If they hadn’t passed this bill by March 15, judges’ salaries would have automatically been raised by as much as $29,000.